by Victoria Christopher Murray
First published 2025
In 1919 Harlem, Jessie Redmon Fauset takes the helm as literary editor of The Crisis, the leading Negro magazine. Her boss W.E.B. Du Bois tasks her with finding young writers who will transform American literature. Jessie discovers teenage talents Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes, befriends novelist Nella Larsen, and watches subscriptions climb as The Crisis becomes the premier destination for Black poetry and fiction. But Jessie harbors two dangerous secrets. She conducts a passionate affair with Du Bois despite their fourteen-year age gap and his marriage. More threatening still, she dreams of claiming his position as editor-in-chief. As racism and sexism challenge her at every turn, Jessie must navigate between professional ambition and personal desire. Her success in launching careers and building literary legacies comes at a steep personal price that will test everything she values.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, biographical-fiction
Vibes: ambitious, dramatic, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: ambitious-protagonist, forbidden-romance, power-imbalance, workplace-conflict
Setting: Harlem, New York
Period: 1919, 1920s, Harlem Renaissance
400 pages · Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: racism, sexism